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Once upon a time, there was a kingdom that was cursed to have its princesses stolen every third generation. During the marriage of its princess and prince, the dragon would swoop in and steal the princess, bridal gown and all, and she would stay there until the prince fought to save her or she died.
Dino shouldn’t have had to worry about the dragon. After all, Tsuna was Decimo, tenth prince of the kingdom of Vongola. But Enrico and Federico had married before they died, though Massimo’s marriage was in pending while he died, and Tsuna would be the twelfth marriage despite being the tenth ruler.
Primo, the dragon ruined everything. Why did it have to convolute something that should have very simple?
Well, regardless, Dino would have to perform his duties and protect Tsuna, and by extension, his wife, Enma Kozato of the Shimon Kingdom. He might have been a lowly orphan growing up, both clumsy and growing up in the slums of the Vongola Kingdom, but he found his calling in guard duty and quickly rose through the ranks. Soon, he was working side by side with King Timoteo, Vongola’s ninth and current ruler, and Tsuna himself.
That meant that as the Head Guard, the safety of Prince Tsunayoshi and Princess Enma was entrusted to him. And as Prince Tsuna’s close friend, he would not allow his wedding to be ruined! Even though technically speaking, Tsuna’s safety would be in the hands of his personal retainers and Guardians, a group of people he won over and trusted completely, and Princess Enma also had Guardians, Dino was both willing and ready to give his life to either royal.
And as Head Guard, Dino could not afford to be distracted, especially when there was the threat of a dragon at hand. Even as the couple tied the knot with a sweet kiss, Dino was well attuned to his surroundings, eyes focused not at the couple but instead at the sky, just in case.
There! A black spot that was rapidly getting closer!
The crowd scattered as the dragon descended upon them, but Dino, who had spotted the reptile long before the rest, had ample time to push the bride away before she could get kidnapped.
...Only to get caught in the clutches of the dragon himself. He didn’t mean to do that. Ehehehe…
Maybe when the dragon realized they hadn’t kidnapped a princess but a mere guard, he’d be spared? But, the dragon never killed the princess, so maybe he’d be killed instead...
Ah, well, if push came to shove, he still had his sword!
Except, no, he did not, realizing too late that he had dropped his sword in the chaos in the wedding. Primo, with blunders like these, sometimes he wondered how he was made into Head Guard in the first place.
Guess he’ll die.
Or sleep. Apparently flight made him very tired. Or was it the all-nighters he had before the wedding, fretting over the prince and princess’ safety?
Whatever. At least when he’d die, it’d be relatively painless.
ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ
Xanxus stared down at the ‘princess’ he had just kidnapped. Except it wasn’t a princess, it was a male with blond hair and handsome features, decked out in formal wear that cleverly hid the armor underneath. A guard, by the looks of it. And if he was quick enough to somehow save the princess before Xanxus could take her, then he’d have been standing very close to her, so the Head Guard, probably.
Of all the mistakes to make, this one took the cake. If he told Squalo, he’d never hear the end of it. Speaking of Squalo…
“VOI!! Shitty dragon! You back yet?!”
Xanxus grunted, chucking the closest object (the guard’s armor) at the silver-haired hydra. “What do you want, hydra-trash?! Can’t you see I’m fucking busy?”
“Busy doing what? Fucking the princess? VOI, I thought we agreed hands off!” Squalo shouted in return before taking a closer look at the body. “Oh shit… don’t tell me… that’s a guy? How the fuck did you fuck up this badly?”
“Shut the fuck up, hydra-trash! How the fuck am I supposed to know?” Xanxus barked, stripping Dino to his underclothes: a white tunic and a pair of brown trousers. Humans were weird, willingly wearing so many layers, Xanxus decided. When he turned human, even he didn’t wear so much.
“Shit…” Squalo ran a hand through his messy silver locks. The hydra was in his human form: pale skin and icy blue eyes, along with long hair the color of his moonlight-dipped scales. An overcoat made of a navy blue material he had looted off of a few humans and had Lussuria sew for him covered his body, along with a shirt he had found somewhere, some pants and a pair of boots made of his own scales. “The hell do we tell Belphegor? You know he depends on royal blood to survive. Unless you somehow kidnapped the fucking prince, but he doesn’t look like him.”
“The fucking truth, hydra-trash. What else?” Xanxus scoffed. “Besides, he can go hunt on his own. Fuck knows how rusty his skills have gotten.”
Squalo sighed. “You’re telling him yourself, shitty dragon! I’m not having Belphegor bully Fran into convincing me I’m a girl, or whatever the fuck he does to get revenge.”
Xanxus barked out a laugh. “You look the part enough.”
Squalo chucked the armor back at him and stormed off.
ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ
When Dino woke up, he found himself in a very warm and soft bed, which immediately set off alarms in his head. The barracks were never warm, nor were the beds ever soft. Even as Head Guard, the blankets were itchy, the heating subpar and the bed, a piece of cloth laid over some straw.
Then, he remembered yesterday, and all he could really think was: damn, this dragon treats me better than my own kingdom.
He crawled out of bed, suddenly aware of how disgusting he felt and of the lack of armor. First his sword, now his clothes? At least he was spared some sort of dignity ㅡ his shirt and pants had been left on. Hopefully, he wouldn’t be expected to wear the same thing for however long he would be forced to stay with the dragon. And, hopefully, he’d get to bathe too.
But for now, Dino mostly hoped to stay alive, and maybe get something to eat. Judging by his growling stomach, he had slept for a long time.
“Voi, you woke up?” A silver haired man was sitting next to him, a book of runes in his hands. Now that Dino was awake, he laid the book on his lap, preferring to pay attention to Dino.
Dino, not used to strange men sitting next to him while he was sleeping, did the only natural thing: scramble away and ask for the stranger’s name. Which he did do, both ungracefully and embarrassing himself by tripping over the sheets.
The silveret, quite thankfully, looked amused by his antics. “Squalo,” he said. “No last name.”
“Squalo…” Dino tested out the name. “I’m Dino. What do you want?”
“Food.”
Dino stiffened. By food, he didn’t mean Dino, right?
Seeing this, Squalo smirked. “Don’t worry, you’re not on the menu. We have some meat. Xanxus will join us soon.”
“Xanxus?”
“The shitty dragon who kidnapped you and has been kidnapping royals for the past century or so.”
Dino frowned. “That wasn’t you?”
Wrong thing to say. “Fuck no! I’m a goddamn hydra! Don’t confuse me with those goddamn, stuck-up, perpetually angry pieces of flaming shit!” Squalo raged, glaring at Dino. “You got that, human?”
“A-ah…” Personally, he didn’t find Squalo any different, but Dino wasn’t going to say that. Instead, he said, “Hydra? But you seem plenty human to me.”
“Nah.” Squalo offered him a feral grin that looked entirely too animalistic to be completely human, and, yep, there went Dino’s appetite. “A witch liked us and decided to give us human forms. Said we were too smart to be complete creatures, or some shit.”
Right. Witches. Couldn’t forget about them, though they were rare in Vongola. “Illusionists, or actual witches?”
“Actual witches, but we do know a couple of illusionists.” The duo reached something that looked like a kitchen, and Squalo turned towards the blond. “Now, what do you want for breakfast?”
“Uh…” This was probably the first time Dino was actually asked what he wanted. For the higher-ups in the castle, the king got to choose the meals, and when he was a lower class knight, breakfast, lunch and dinner was bread and meat, plus some fruits or vegetables for variety. Plus, he never asked exactly what he was eating, so this was a completely new experience for Dino. An experience he had no knowledge in, which boded badly for him. “...Bread?” he finally settled on.
Squalo rolled his eyes. “Xanxus’ll kill us if we just give him bread. You’re useless. Sit down and I’ll prepare something.”
“Alright…” If you knew what you were going to make, why ask in the first place?!
A few moments passed, and Dino, spotting a few chairs, sat down and laid his head on the table in front of him. Soon enough, a mouth-watering scent spread through the kitchen, and a plate of well-cooked meat sat in front of him, a few herbs scattered about to add color. A similar looking plate, though bigger than his, was in front of a throne-like chair, and a bowl of fruit was put in front of another chair. Squalo held a plate of grilled fish, which he looked at but didn’t eat yet. Seeing his cook wasn’t eating, Dino didn’t either.
“Voi! Is there something you want?” Squalo snapped, noticing Dino’s stare on him. “Do you want bread? Or do you need something else? Water? Humans are delicate like that, right?”
“Erm… a glass of water would be nice…” Dino murmured. “And some fruit.”
“Yeah, sure.” A few seconds later, a glass of water and an apple appeared in front of him. “Don’t eat yet. It’ll tick Xanxus off.”
“I see. Who’s the bowl of fruit for?”
“A guest. He’ll be making all your clothes.” At Dino’s shocked look, Squalo scoffed. “What, don’t tell me you expected us to have you to wear the same clothes? That’s disgusting.”
At that moment, a pair of creatures suddenly appeared in the kitchen. A phoenix, Dino noted, of which the most powerful were known to have teleporting abilities, so that meant this bird was quite a powerful phoenix. The other looked human, though Dino suspected it was the dragon that brought him here, seeing as nobody else was. He had black hair and long-ish bangs, a frostbite scar running down his cheek, and brightly colored feathers that hung from under his ear, along with a long, blue ribbon that was tied with a red-orange colored bead. A white collared shirt and black coat hung from his body, just tight enough to denote muscles, and black pants, along with boots made of onyx black scales and highlighted with reddish orange patterns. Intense red eyes scanned the room with an impassive look.
Suddenly, the phoenix morphed into a human: a tall man with a shaved head aside from a tuft of bright green hair that framed part of his face and a bright red mohawk. Red sunglasses dangled on his face, and he wore a long, maroon cloak and a feather-patterned yellow-orange tunic, tucked neatly into black pants and black and white boots. “Is this the human?” the phoenix asked, adjusting his sunglasses. “Hmm, it doesn’t seem female…”
Dino shivered slightly, wiggling in his seat. He felt like he was being undressed.
Squalo groaned. “Shitty dragon took the wrong fucking person, somehow.”
The probably dragon chucked a nearby rock at Squalo, who skillfully dodged it. “Shut up, hydra-trash.”
“Whatever.”
The phoenix turned back towards Dino, perking up quite suddenly. “Oh my! We haven’t introduced ourselves yet, and I doubt Squalo has said anything! I’m Lussuria, nice to meet you, young lad!”
“Dino,” Dino said, taking the offered hand and smiling warmly. “Very nice to meet you too, Lussuria.”
“Ah, how well-mannered! And pretty, too!” Lussuria exclaimed, leaning in to pinch Dino’s cheeks. “You’re not quite my type, I’m afraid, but I’ll have fun with you!”
Somehow, Dino had a bad feeling about that.
The dragon ‘hmphs’. “Xanxus, trash.”
Wow. How rude.
Lussuria suddenly frowned and released Dino’s cheeks. He turned towards Squalo. “What will happen to Bel? You know he can’t survive off of regular blood for long.”
Xanxus responded, “Snake-trash can go hunt for food on his fucking own! I’ve been doing his goddamn hunting for fuck knows how long.”
“But…” Lussuria frowned, but looking at Xanxus’ glare, quickly acquiesced. “Then should we start the meal?”
Without delay, Xanxus sat himself on top of the throne and began eating. Seeing Xanxus had started eating, Squalo and Lussuria also began to dig in.
A few moments passed. “Well?” the dragon demanded, seeing Dino wasn’t eating. “What are you, anorexic or whatever bullshit humans have?”
“Er, no…” Dino stammered, “I-it’s just… I’m a guest, so I should wait until everyone has finished eating, right?”
Xaxnus rolled his eyes. Gesturing to Lussuria and Squalo, he said, “These trash are guests too. Eat.”
“A-alright.”
The meal passed in relative silence, the only disturbance being the telltale signs of eating. It was oddly domestic for a bunch of creatures, Dino thought, but then again, Squalo did say they were rather intelligent compared to most creatures. Considering that Squalo was also quite good at cooking, too, was a surprised. The meat was juicy and tender, with just the right amount of pink in the middle. It was seasoned well too, enough to give it taste and make it flavorful, but not too rich to become overwhelming. The herbs, when Dino got around to eating them, soaked up the meat’s juice, making them equally a pleasure to eat. Not even the food at the castle was this good!
Once they finished eating, Lussuria dragged him away to another part of the dragon’s den. “Bathe, first!” the phoenix commanded, shoving Dino into a pool of water. “I’ll take your measurements after, and give you some clothes to wear in the meantime while I whip something up!”
Dino obeyed dumbly, washing himself as he lamented over the strange situation he got himself in. Creatures that could cook better than the cooks back home? Oddball tailors with hairdos that made them look like cockatoos? Beasts that could turn into humans? It was all so confusing, it was a miracle he brain hadn’t exploded processing it all yet! Out of all his greatest misadventures, this had got to be one of the oddest.
He quickly finished bathing and made his way to wherever Lussuria had vanished off to, feeling both cold and self-conscious for having to walk around naked. Thankfully, the phoenix seemed to have a sixth sense for this sort of thing because Dino was quickly swept away into another room, where Lussuria began taking his measurements.
“I see…” the firebird nodded slightly, marking down his findings. “My, you have quite the figure for a man of your station, Dino! I’ll have some clothes whipped up in a few days, but for now, you can just wear something premade. I’m afraid I only have dresses, though…”
Dino felt his face burn. “Is there anything else I could wear?”
Lussuria shook his head, seeming sad, but Dino could feel the mischievous look sent his way. “I’m afraid I only prepared for females, and Xanxus is rather protective over his clothes. Squalo lives a while away, and I can’t get his clothes since the whole teleporting thing is rather tiring. Sorry, honey.”
“I… see…” Dino felt his shoulders sag. As Head Guard, he had found himself in some embarrassing situations, but wearing a dress was not part of any of them. Hopefully they weren’t too revealing. “Alright.”
“Wonderful!” And suddenly he was whisked away to the closet it the back where Lussaria began to fuss over him.
“Blond hair, blue eyes, orange, maybe? Oooh, what about green? Maybe both? Ah, but orange and green look terrible together. Hmm, green with blue highlights?” Lussuria trailed off, whirling around while Dino sat miserably in the corner, quietly resigning himself to his fate.
Finally, Lussaria decided on a dress. It was a dark, forest green and dusted with a yellow-orange glitter around the shoulders. Blue hemmed the ends and the collar, bringing out his equally blue eyes. Thankfully, it reached past his knees and covered whatever was necessary. He tried not to blush too badly when he was given a pair of underwear, too, although he failed quite miserably in that endeavor.
“You look lovely, dear,” Lussuria said, toying with his wavy hair before pushing him out of the room. “Now go get him!”
Dino could only sweatdrop. Did Lussuria always treat getting dressed like he was attending a ball or something? He looked too stupid for that.
No matter. Time to spend the rest of his days crying in his ‘room’.
ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ
A few weeks passed since the abductions, and Dino was getting more comfortable with his lifestyle. As Xanxus’ captive, he just had to cook food and clean the place and he’d be free to do whatever he wanted. Squalo, after seeing him stumble through boiling water, reluctantly taught him how to cook, muttering something about Xanxus blowing a gasket. He also taught him how to clean, too, saying that watching him track dirt where he just cleaned was genuinely painful to watch.
Dino only laughed sheepishly. He was bad at these types of things, so what? He never claimed he was good .
Thankfully, after a few days of being there, Dino also got his clothes, delivered by an irate Thunderbird named after a Leviathan, which was kind of weird. “I wanted to be named Draco,” the bird muttered darkly when Dino had commented on that, “but Boss said that was too weird so I chose Levi-A-Than instead.”
Quite wisely, Dino decided not to comment on how weird it would be for a bird to be named Draco.
The clothes Lussuria had made him were comfortable to wear. A white tunic, black pants and black boots as well, along with a heavy green cloak fastened with a bright orange gem. The cloak even had plenty of pockets, a sentiment Dino very much appreciated. The other clothes were variations of the same thing.
Squalo also had to teach him how to wash clothes too. It was embarrassing, to think that he was that helpless at household chores.
In those weeks, his relationship with Squalo and Xanxus had deepened considerably. Squalo usually dropped by to give Xanxus ‘reports’ from their day job: a mercenary group named the Varia. Levi, Lussuria, Squalo and Xanxus were all members, with Xanxus being the leader. There were three other members that Dino had yet to meet, but considering how odd the ones he had met were, he didn’t think he wanted to meet them. As the Varia, they were rather busy most of the time, but they were around long enough for Dino to form a tentative relationship with Squalo and Xanxus.
Squalo, Dino learned, pretty much lived with Xanxus. The hydra spent more time in the dragon’s den than in his own home, and the rude names they called each other were actually terms of endearment. Both were rather foulmouthed and refused to even acknowledge they cared about each other at least somewhat, thus resulting in the ill-mannered monikers. The hydra also made all the dragon’s meals for him when they weren’t keeping kidnapped princesses around to do the chores, an interesting revelation for Dino. They weren’t married in the least bit, though, which was a surprising but welcome fact.
Throughout Dino’s stay in Xanxus’ lair, he learned many things about the dragon through Squalo, who kept him company when he wasn’t out on missions, Lussuria, who visited every few days, or interactions with Xanxus himself. Squalo painted Xanxus as a tyrannical boss who really had no good side, constantly overworked Squalo on a daily basis and gained an odd amount of sadistic joy both metaphorically and physically pulling Squalo’s pigtails. Lussuria said that Xanxus was simply misunderstood, and, despite being broody and grumpy, had a soft side to him. Like when he chose not to chuck plates at Squalo when he burned his food by accident. Apparently, he had mellowed out with age and was way worse when he was younger.
Dino’s interactions with Xanxus corroborated Lussuria’s assertions about the dragon. After spending a while with him, Dino found out that while Xanxus was definitely rough around the edges and though he had an unhealthy tendency to use violence to communicate, he wasn’t that bad. Once, he even complimented Dino’s cooking! Well, it wasn’t a complete compliment and was more of a “it’s not as trashy as it was before, trash,” which basically meant it wasn’t half bad by Xanxus’ standards, and by normal human standards, meant it was pretty good. Sometimes, if he saw Dino struggling with something, Xanxus would also help him. It was surprising everytime that happened, but it was sweet nonetheless.
Well, it would be sweet if Dino could stop fainting whenever he felt Xanxus pressed against him, rough hands wrapping around his.
When he told Squalo of these interactions, the hydra simply narrowed his eyes. Lussuria squealed like a little girl and demanded more details, though there were none considering that he just woke up in his room again. That was enough to satiate the phoenix’s curiosity though, thankfully, since Lussuria bothering him for details was both disturbing and annoying. Considering Dino had nothing better to do than sleep, clean, cook, or wash the clothes, it was even more annoying.
Life in the dragon’s den was surprisingly comfortable. Xanxus was vaguely nice, Squalo was helpful and Lussuria was good company, if not a little odd at times. Still, it had been weeks and Dino needed something that he hadn’t had for ages: sunlight. For the entire time Dino had been in the dragon’s captivity, he hadn’t felt the sun shining on his skin, the pleasant heat that warmed him to the core. Although he doubted Xanxus would allow him, it was still a good idea to ask, right?
Making his way towards Xanxus’ room, Dino tried to convince himself that no, the dragon would not eviscerate him for asking. The worrying made the short walk shorter than it actually was, and soon, Dino found himself in front of the door to Xanxus’ room. Deep breath in, deep breath out…
He opened the door a crack and saw Xanxus and Squalo deep in a conversation. “...weaker. Bel really needs blood,” Squalo was saying, an oddly worried look on his face. “Fran can only keep him satiated for so long.”
Xanxus cursed. “Well, as you can see, we don’t have a fucking royal for Bel.”
Squalo sighed, running his hand through his hair. “Do you think you can kidnap the princess?”
“Now?” Xanxus scoffed. “After I failed, they’re bound to tighten security.”
“Fuck.”
Dino shrank away. Whatever the two were talking about, it was obviously important. He probably should come back later and not interrupt the conversation.
Suddenly, Xanxus loudly said, “Hey, trash, it’s not a good idea to eavesdrop on our fucking conversation.”
He squeaked. “S-sorry! I didn’t mean to!”
The dragon sighed. “What the fuck do you want, trash. I’m busy, so make it quick.”
Dino slipped into the room, trying to avoid eye contact. “Uhm, it’s kind of silly, but…”
“Spit it out.”
“I was kindawonderingwhetherornotyou’dletmegooutsideforabit?”
Xanxus stared at him, Squalo sighing and obviously resisting the urge to facepalm. “Slower, trash.”
“Uhm… I-I was wondering whether or not you’d let me go outside for a bit?” Dino stuttered out, bracing himself for the negative reaction.
To his surprise, Xanxus only barked out a laugh. “Took you long enough,” the dragon muttered. “Hydra-trash, you take care of the rest of the trash!”
“VOI! Like hell I’m taking over for you to go on your fucking date!” Squalo shouted, looking rather displeased. “Fuck you!”
Xanxus rolled his eyes as Dino blushed bright red at their outing being called a date. “Let’s go, trash,” the dragon said, leading Dino to the main chamber where a boulder blocked all access to the outside world. Xanxus suddenly transformed into a dragon and pushed the boulder back, and Dino thanked Primo he was so clumsy because if he were any faster, he was sure he’d get crushed.
As a dragon, Xanxus was elegant and beautiful. Ebony black scales covered his lean but obviously strong body, although dark grey scales marked the places where the frostbite mark was on Xanxus’ human form. His claws were a pearly white, and eyes a crimson red color. Lining his spine were sharp looking ridges that were colored a bright red-orange, much like the underside of his long, leathery wings. Everytime he moved, the sunlight pouring from the hole caused his scales to shimmer a silver color.
Xanxus rolled his eyes and harrumphed in his dragon form at Dino’s stunned face. His tail crept around Dino’s legs and dumped the stupefied blond on his back so he was nestled comfortably between the ridges on his back. Without warning, the dragon took off, gracefully flying through the sky and the clouds. Normally, flying at the altitude they were at would result in freezing cold temperatures, but Xanxus was very warm and the cloak helped trap heat, allowing Dino to enjoy the flight without feeling cold.
The two of them dipped back down, and Dino could make out the forest that separated the former kingdom of Cavallone and the kingdom of Vongola. “I was raised there!” he shouted merrily, pointing towards the land of Cavallone. Though the former kingdom was now known as the slums of Vongola, having merged with the more powerful kingdom when its ruler fell ill and died, leaving the queen and her baby son the choice to either merge into Vongola or be forcibly taken over, Dino held only happy memories of the land.
His father died when Dino was incredibly young and his mother had died when he was barely capable of remembering her, so he was taken care of by the kind neighbors that lived next door to them. When he was ten, he decided to search for his own path in life and ran away to the countryside, where he learned how to fight from a tutor of sorts, mastering both the sword and the whip, which his tutor, Romario, had said he had talent for. Romario had an eye for talent and pushed Dino to fighting on horseback, so Dino found himself working as a stableboy in return for using the horses, which he seemed to have a natural inclination for. His ability to fight ended up garnering the Royal Guard’s attention when they stopped by the village he learned in, and he ended up getting recruited.
As a guard, he wasn’t allowed on the horses, a role reserved for cavaliers and knights, even though he showed he had a natural talent for them. He wasn’t even allowed in the stables to spend time with the horses, which was a painful thing to give up. After all, Dino’s teenage years were spent mostly with horses as company, along with Romario and the person who ran the stable. But now that they were passing over the village, he suddenly had a want to visit Romario again, to ride the horses again.
“Can we stop by that village?” Dino shouted to Xanxus, pointing to where the village was. He knew it was his, for it was shaped in an odd ‘D’ shape, the long side of the ‘D’ being the farms and the stable, and the curve being the houses. Judging by the dots in the field, the horses were out grazing. Romario would be happy to see him, he thought, and maybe the stable master too. His tutor was the best in the world, and he was always quite good with taking care of the horses.
Xanxus snorted in reply, and they began their descent. The villagers screamed and pointed to the sky as they hovered over the village, and soon, Dino was closer enough he could jump down without breaking his ankles. In the crowd outside, he noticed Romario, who had aged well.
“I’m back!” he shouted, pulling his tutor into a hug.
Romario chuckled. “Only you would return on a dragon of all things,” he said. The rest of the village, who were always very close and knew Dino quite well, all echoed his sentiments, laughing goodnaturedly. Honestly, Dino had trouble seeing why the Cavallone land was always called a ‘slum’ when they were so happy. Sure, they weren’t the richest, the very opposite being true, but they were close and so very warm. The capital was nothing like that, everyone being cold and obsessed with propriety.
Dino winked. “What happens in the Cavallone land stays in the Cavallone land,” he said, a flirtatious finger over his mouth. “You won’t tell, will you? The Royal Guard will kill me!”
They only laughed. “Of course, of course,” an old, plump man who Dino recognized as the butcher said. “You needn’t worry yourself, Dino! We’re very good with secrets!”
“How long will you be staying, big brother?” a young girl asked, tugging on his cloak. Dino observed her for a moment ㅡ she had earnest blue eyes and bright red hair, marking her as the daughter of the tailor, probably. “Will you be staying long? Mother says you were always the best with the sword and with horse riding! Can you show us?”
Dino laughed brightly, kneeling down to the girl’s level. “Not very long,” he said, quite regretfully, “but I’m sure I’ll be able to demonstrate my abilities on the horse for you, young lady. If I stay too long, though, Xanxus will get prickly!”
“Xanxus?” Romario asked. “Who is Xanxus?”
At the moment, Xanxus, in his human form, approached the crowd and slipped next to Dino. “Me,” the dragon said, seemingly making a conscious effort to be polite. “It is nice to meet you.”
“He’s the dragon I rode on,” Dino explained to the crowd. “He’s human because a witch blessed him! Isn’t that the coolest?”
The village, as happy as ever, shouted in agreement. A young boy even dashed up to Xanxus at the news, looking up at the man in awe. Xanxus awkwardly knelt down and ruffled the boy’s hair, causing the boy to dash back into the crowd, bright giggles trailing after him. Dino resisted the urge to laugh at the picture and simply nudged the dragon, forgetting about his grumpy attitude, and said, “Aren’t you popular?”
Xanxus only grunted, but Dino could spot the light pink blush on his cheeks. The dragon was happy!
Dino spent the rest of the day riding the horses, muscle memory helping a lot with the act. The horses still remembered him, his usual steed nuzzling into his hair. Dino giggled and mounted her. “Ready, Maria?” he asked, using the name he had given her. “Just like old days!”
And the two were off.
The crowd gasped as they soared over green grass and flew above any obstacles. “Amazing!” they shouted when Maria and Dino tore through the forest in record time. As for Dino, he was dizzyingly giddy throughout the whole thing, adrenaline shooting through his veins. For the ride, he seemed to become one with Maria, knowing exactly when to push her to go faster and when she was exerting too much energy. The surroundings blurred together as they raced around the track, Dino whooping with glee. He missed this so much!
Once they were done and Dino dismounted, the sun was just touching the horizon. “It’s time we leave,” he said mournfully as Xanxus transformed into a dragon. “I’ll see if I can come back soon!”
Romario smiled. “And if you do, we’ll be waiting! And don’t worry about Xanxus, Cavallone is only loyal to Cavallone!”
“Of course!” And with the blessings of his family, Dino and Xanxus were off, back to the cave where Dino would have to live in.
Somehow, he wasn’t too disappointed.
ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ
The moment the duo got back, Xanxus was approached by Squalo. “Voi, shitty dragon. Bel’s dying,” the hydra said, a frantic look on his face. “He needs blood, and quick. Fran can only do so much!”
Xanxus grinned. “I’ve got good news for you, hydra-trash,” he said. “The fire-trash ready to teleport?”
Squalo nodded, a perplexed look on his face. “Lussuria’s here.”
Dino made a move to leave, figuring this was work related and thus, he wasn’t relevant, but Xanxus grabbed him by the arm. “You’re coming with us,” he said.
“Eh?” Dino squeaked, but complied anyway. Squalo looked no more understanding of the situation as Dino, but Lussuria, who was up and about in his bird form, seemed to have known about this long ago.
“Hold onto fire-trash,” Xanxus commanded Dino, who complied easily. A moment not too soon, the four of them disappeared in a flash of fire and tumbling into the living room of a wood cabin.
“Voi, shitty dragon, why’d you bring the human?” Squalo demanded the moment they touched down on ground. Dino only shivered, feeling very queasy from the sudden travel.
Xanxus smirked. “You’ll see.” He then turned to a green haired young boy, who seemed completely apathetic to the fact four people appeared in the living room without prior warning. “Magic-trash. I need a heredity potion.”
“Yeah, sure, whatever,” the boy muttered, opening a bag before pulling out a potion. “Here you go, Boss.”
Squalo’s eyes widened. “Don’t tell me…”
“Probably.” Xanxus gently guided Dino through the process of using a heredity potion, using a pin to poke a wound into Dino’s pointer finger and dropping two beads of blood into the potion. The green-haired boy handed Xanxus a piece of parchment and a brush, the latter of which was dipped into the potion and then dragged over the parchment. Dino watched as Xanxus methodically painted over the parchment using the potion as a family tree seemed to appear on the piece of paper. Once the potion ran out, the family tree was finished.
“This is…” Squalo breathed, too shocked to be angry.
“My family tree?” Dino finished for him. Having grown up an orphan, he never knew the names of his mother or father, both of them being very private people, to the point the neighbors that took him not even knowing. Dino simply knew his name, but that was it.
Xanxus grinned victoriously, and Dino scanned the tree. His father was… what? That was… impossible, right?
“Impossible,” Dino breathed. “I…”
Xanxus fixed him with a sharp look. “Explain,” he said.
“I was orphan when I was four! I never knew my parents or their name, and I never knew my own last name! How was I supposed to know I was actually royalty?!” Dino panicked. “I’m just as shocked as you!”
“The Cavallone had one heir,” Lussuria said. “The eyes were a dead giveaway.”
“My eyes?” They were blue. Blue was a common enough color. “What about them?”
“If you look closely, they’ve got flecks of orange. That’s the sign of the gods,” Lussuria explained.
Squalo forced his head towards him and stared into Dino’s eyes. “I see it,” he said before taking in a deep breath. “Voi, Dino. We need your blood.”
“W-what?”
The greenet explained, “Our member, Belphegor-senpai, is a Yamata no Orochi, sixth generation. When the god Susano-o killed the first Yamata no Orochi, its children swore revenge on Susano-o and pledged to only eat the descendants of Susano-o. The pledge was passed down the line, but it was diluted enough that by the sixth generation, the Yamata no Orochi could eat humans of common blood, but only if they ate humans of godly blood every so often. Bel-senpai goes crazy whenever he sees his own blood spilled though, which is pretty common when it comes to hunting humans of godly blood, so Boss hunts the humans for him. By the sixth generation, though, the few Yamata no Orochi that remained also adapted to the lack of blood by only needing to drain blood every few years, but since Bel-senpai leaves his victims alive, he needs more blood than usual.”
“Is that why you’ve been kidnapping princesses?”
“Yeah. Boss always does that on the wedding day, since by the wedding, the blood of the prince and princess are mixed so the godly blood of royalty resides in both bride and groom. Boss can just take either.”
“But... why me? The Vongola, I can understand, but why Cavallone, too?”
Xanxus snorted. “You don’t know? All lines of royalty are descended from the gods.”
“W-what?”
“You have magical powers.” Xanxus sighed. “Get over it.”
“I-I do?”
Lussuria took over. “The Cavallone royal family was known for having a connection with horses, being descendants of Epona, the horse goddess.”
Connection with horses? Dino remembered the ride with Maria, how their consciousness seemed to merge, how the horses always seemed to like him no matter what. “I…”
Xanxus interrupted him. “We need your blood. The blood-trash is dying.”
Dino hardened his resolve. “Of course. Take it.”
That was the greenet’s cue. He pulled out a syringe, removed Dino’s cloak and rolled up his sleeves, and took about two pints of blood. “Here.” He offered the woozy blond a cookie and some orange juice and he bandaged Dino’s wound. Dino gladly ate the food offered as the greenet carted the blood elsewhere.
The blond yawned, feeling drowsy after the blood was taken. He felt his body fall sideways, resting his head on Xanxus’ shoulder, but couldn’t stop it as he fell asleep.
ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ
Squalo smirked as Dino fell asleep. Xanxus, in an uncharacteristic display of kindness, adjusted his body so he was lying on his back, head resting in Xanxus’ lap. “Voi, you’ve got it bad,” he said.
“Shut the fuck up!” Xanxus hissed, eyes flashing. “Fucking trash!”
“You act like I haven't fucking noticed you never call him ‘trash’ anymore, shitty dragon. Just fucking tell him already. It’s a goddamn headache watching you two dance around each other.”
Xanxus frowned, and in a rare show of weakness, said, “He doesn’t care about me.”
“Like fuck he doesn’t,” Squalo snorted. “He was fucking happy when I told him we weren’t married. He faints when you help him because you always press close. The next thing I know, he took you to meet his fucking family, too.”
Xanxus glanced away.
“Voi… you mean…” Squalo had to stop himself from laughing. “He actually fucking had you meet his family?! How are you not fucking married?”
Xanxus growled. “Shut the fuck up!” he whisper-shouted, a red blush on his face.
“Voi, I thought you were a fucking cassanova, shitty dragon. Why the fuck are you so nervous about a fucking human?”
Xanxus shrugged. “Like fuck I know.”
“Well, just tell him. It’s fucking annoying.”
ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ
Another week passed, and Dino spent all his time in his room, thinking. About the Cavallone, about the visit to his village.
Something had happened there, he just knew it. Something that made his heart go thump-thump whenever he saw Xanxus. Maybe it was Xanxus acting nicely towards the little kid that caused it, having never seen that side of the dragon before, but something had made blood rush to his face whenever he saw the dragon now.
Butterflies fluttered in his stomach whenever they spoke, and lightning seemed to spark when their fingers brushed. When Xanxus complimented his cooking, his heart soared. It didn’t help that their setup was comically domestic, too, with Dino being the loyal housewife and Xanxus being the working husband.
He buried his face into the pillow. There was also yesterday too…
Yesterday, Dino, in a haze of thinking too much, forgot to wash his clothes. Unwilling to go another day wearing dirty clothes, he ended up having to wear the dresses Lussuria had premade under his cloak. When Xanxus saw him, the dragon turned away immediately, but Dino could make out a flush on his skin. Dino also felt himself blushing when Xanxus saw him, and tried to ignore the way he kept feeling a stare trace down his bare legs and arms when he worked.
He was very relieved to return to pants and a shirt, but felt disappointed when he realized Xanxus would probably be paying less attention to him.
“What is this feeling?” he muttered, squeezing the pillow to death. “Is it… love?”
ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ
Today was the day, Dino decided. The day he confessed his feelings to Xanxus.
The past few days were hazy, Dino having been too busy thinking to notice anything else. If anyone were to ask, he chatted with Squalo, cleaned, cooked, did the laundry, and other such menial tasks. If they pressed further, Dino was sure he’d be unable to give a more detailed answer. They had blurred together, Dino only focused on his thoughts and deciphering his feelings for the dragon.
Soon, the thinking had resulted in an answer: yes. He had fallen in love with Xanxus. He would willingly stay here, working as a maid of sorts to stay. He would be happy to donate his blood to Belphegor to stay. If he had the choice between Vongola or Xanxus, he’d choose Xanxus. Xanxus, at the very least, let him ride horses and feel free. Vongola? Not so much.
Was it the answer he had wanted? Dino wasn’t sure. Did Xanxus return his feelings? He wasn’t sure about that either. Still, he wanted to get this off his chest. Dino was never good at keeping secrets unless the Cavallone were involved, and this felt too big a secret to keep from someone he saw everyday.
So Dino made his way to Xanxus’ room, where the dragon probably was, prepared to get his heart broken. He knocked tentatively on the door, feeling his heart drop out of nerves when Xanxus said, “Come in.”
“Xanxus…” Dino murmured. “I… Xanxus, I’m in love with you!”
His heart stuttered to a stop when Xanxus stared at him incredulously. Primo, this was such a bad idea, why did he tell him? This was bound to crash and burn, whyㅡ
A pair of lips were on his.
To most people, his first kiss wasn’t the greatest. Xanxus’ lips were chapped and the kiss was altogether too much teeth and not enough lips, not enough tongue. It was hard, bruising, and much too rough. To Dino, though, his first kiss was beautiful.
“About time you said it,” Xanxus muttered as they surfaced for air.
ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ
Extra Scene:
Two weeks later...
“Hey, Xanxus.”
“Yeah?”
“You love me, right?”
“No shit. What’s this about?”
“How willing are you to overthrow the Vongola Nono? Tsuna’s nice enough, but I was talking to Romario and he said I should try to take back Cavallone now that I know I’m the prince.”
Xanxus snorted. “The ninth gave me a fucking scar and trapped me in ice. It took forever to melt it. Fuck yeah, I’m ready to kill the old man.”
“Really?” Dino stared at his lover through half-lidded eyes. “I’ll make sure he apologizes before he kicks the bucket.”
Xanxus snorted. “Where did that loyalty to Vongola go?”
Dino shrugged. “It’s still there. Did you know I’d be Cavallone Decimo? Tsuna’s Decimo too. It’s more of loyalty towards the Decimo, y’know? ‘Cause Tsuna never knew that I was Cavallone like Nono.”
“Oh?” Xanxus turned to look at Dino. “That motherfucker knew?”
“Well, he wouldn’t let me ride the horses,” Dino said, pouting slightly. “And didn’t you say that you’ve fought a couple of the guards and they were able to use those flames that pretty much everyone has? And that only royalty has orange flames? Well, I never got those lessons.”
Xanxus frowned. “I’ll make sure he apologizes before he kicks the bucket.”